COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, June 13, 2011
MOTION NO.5
MOTION: Councillor C. Jones
That this Council will meet with Palmerstown Camera Club with a view to collaborating with them on a photographic project on the SDCC/Ethiopian Partnership.
REPORT:
The South Dublin – Ethiopian Partnership Project is a joint pilot project undertaken between Irish Aid and South Dublin County Council to explore the feasibility of Irish public bodies engaging in direct capacity-building projects with their counterparts in sub-Saharan Africa – in our case the town authorities of Werabe and Butajira. 2011 marks the end of a four-year term of funding by Irish Aid totalling €960,000 which has been supplemented by an SDCC corporate contribution currently €50,000 per annum.
The project elements cover a very wide range of areas mirroring those of local authority responsibility in Ethiopia. These include:
- Management Training for Municipality Politicians & Staff
- Technical Training delivered by SDCC Staff
- Water supply networks and standpipes
- Public & School Sanitation blocks
- Waste management
- Street Paving
- Surface Water Drainage
- Urban Planning
- Upgrading and Provision of New School Buildings & Equipment
- Provision of Health Facilities & Training
- Gender Equality Programmes
- Child Support Programmes
- Youth Recreational Facilities
- Computer Provision & ICT Training
- Library Development
An report on progress is made annually to the Organisation, Procedure and Finance Committee Meeting. A report was tabled for the May meeting of this committee on 19/5/2011 but was not reached.
The project’s Annual Report for 2010 has now been published. It contains a photographic record of all project elements which will be an important input to an independent evaluation of the project to be undertaken in autumn 2011 in association with Irish Aid.
The project team have, over the life of the project, documented progress through photography and film, some of which have been uploaded to the project website http://ethiopianproject.southdublin.ie/ .
Each year SDCC marks Africa Day with an event in the County Library. For 2011, this included an exhibition outlining the work of the project which is accompanied by photographs taken by members of the project team profiling People and Places of Ethiopia. This exhibition will conclude on Monday 13th June 2011.
An invitation has been extended to members of the Palmerstown Camera Club to visit this exhibition and discuss their proposals for a photographic project.